By the time Cody finished up in the bathroom I met him at the door with his toothbrush and a change of clothes. I may have not been much of a dad, but I did what I could to take care of the boy. Took him about ten minutes of pretending he had rabies and growling at the people that walked into the bathroom for it not to be funny anymore. The toothpaste running down his mouth started burning and ended it pretty much with him running his face into the sink water rubbing it off. He smiled proudly his white teeth at me to say I'm dad, I am ready to face the world.
I handed him the fresh clothes and he handed me the toothbrush. He closed the stall door after careful inspection it was safe. I smiled and thought to myself that he got that from his mother. I would of went weeks without changing clothes as a kid let alone care if there was piss on the toilet. I asked out loud if he wanted McDonald's for breakfast. In a high pitched voice with a echo from the bathroom said" he wanted pancakes" I said "sure, little man"
We walked back to the van with me holding everything and him doing his overprotective thing to make sure we weren't gonna get hit by a car. It was cute and just being us against the world fueled it. He opened the passenger door and I put the mornings dirty clothes and hygiene stuff between the seats. I turned around to pick him up only for him to sidestep me to do it himself. I forget sometimes he isn't 5 years old anymore. I handed him the seatbelt and he clicked it as I shut his door.
I climbed into my side and started thinking about I hope I have a lead on a job with that guy. I put the key in the ignition and the dependable old van fired up loud and fast, as to say I am not ready to die yet. I put it into gear and Cody spoke up, "Dad.... seatbelt" in a stern set of disproving eyes he just started at me. When the seatbelt clicked he went back to a happy carefree best of me kinda kid with a greedy smile for pancakes.
I reached over and gave him a good head rub and saying " I love you lil man".
Sure enough to my boys tickled delight there was a play place. Pancakes and shoeless fun was delivered and I was super dad for a while. I liked when he was happy and the bigger the smile, the better. The joy I felt was priceless with everything going on we were damb sure making the best of it.
I never had a chance at a good life but I would move the world to give my boy a chance. I was thinking to myself about 11:30 about the dump truck driver from earlier. Cody was still crawling through the tunnels and made a little buddy play place friend to explain the rules to. I was getting nervous about if the guys truck broke down and all sorts of potential pitfalls the guy could have had to make him late. To take my mind off it I got a chicken nugget happy meal for Cody. Looked at my phone and my heart skipped, 12:05.
I told myself to relax and called Cody over for lunch. He hit the fries and the soda was gone in about two big sucks on the straw. I picked up the cup and turned back to the play place door and seen Tammy for the first time. Tammy was about 5 foot 4 inches and hair so bleach blonde it looked like straw. Little chunky but not a bad body framed in a tight Polka dotted yellow dress. She was staring right at Cody and walked right up to him then shoved her hand out to me and said "i'm Tammy, I am here to get you settled in to one of my trailers today. Mr Sharp wants you to be at work by 6 tomorrow."
I responded"Awesome". She looked me in the eyes and made a huph sound while going slant eye glare at me. Replying back to such a grace, I need my money, you're going to work at 5AM. The harsh and snotty words still ring in my head from all the times she would say them more and more towards the first of every month.
We pulled up to the god forsaken trailer park you had ever seen. Dirt roads and broken down cars with atleast two men at every car drinking a beer and looking at it. I was thinking to myself at that time Cody and me were at a homeless camp by our first impressions.
